Fair and healthy competition and complete freedom of trade in the concerned jurisdictional/domestic market of a country are pre-requisite for economic development and growth, justice to all participant companies in the market and proper protection to the interest of the consumers in that country. The provisions and regulations of the Competition Law of the country strive to meet these all objectives. This Competition Law is also termed as the Antitrust Law. As one of the full-service law firms in Kenya, we inseparably offer sophisticated and expert legal support and services to people and entities engaged in all economic sectors in Kenya and East Africa region, in connection with the competition law of the respective country. This profile (webpage) deals exclusively with the competition law of Kenya and our swift and impeccable legal services related to one of the most significant laws related to the corporate world.

At present, the governing competition law in Kenya is the Competition Act of 201 and the Competition Authority is the watchdog. When the Act came into force in 2012, the mandate of the Authority was largely understood to be the regulation of Mergers & Acquisitions. At the time, the language in the legislation on merger control was so broad that the sale of a kiosk could be construed as a transaction requiring the Authority’s approval. While useful thresholds have since been introduced, certain players ignore the provisions of the Act with grave implications.

An entity is dominant if it produces, supplies distributes or controls 50 percent or more of the total goods or services in the relevant market. However, an entity controlling less than 50 percent of the market could also be found to be dominant. Abuse of dominance includes imposing unfair prices or trading conditions on consumers or limiting market access to other players.

The manufacturing and advertising industries have been the subject of most investigations by the Authority. The investigations in the advertising industry have concentrated on allegations of price-fixing, abuse of dominance and collusion. In the manufacturing industry, the investigations have focused on allegations of imposition of unfair prices, collusion, information sharing, market allocation and restrictive distributorship agreements.

Given the tendency of the majority of companies in M&A to prance on landmines in relation to competition law compliance, services extended by our lawyers are consultancy services, due diligence services, services for devising appropriate safeguarding measures and policies, documentation services, services for dispute resolution, which are related mainly with the following matters and topics:

• Anti-Competitive Agreements
• Abuse of Dominant Position
• Joint Ventures
• Various Commercial Dealings and Transactions at varying Stages/Levels
• Mergers and Acquisitions (M & A)
• Regulation of Combinations
• Consumer Protection
• Intellectual Property Rights
• Supply and Distribution Systems
• Cartels
• Leniency Applications
• Concession Agreements
• Licensing and Franchising
• Relations with concerned Entities and Consumers
• Competition Audit